thats around what my friend was saying to try to just hand crank it.... but what your saying is that if i try to manually turn over the engine and it does not turn over then the TQ is improperly mounted? or if it dosnt turn over easily? which one?

when putting in the bolts the TQ was able to seat back into the trans about 1/8 of an inch between the flywheel and TQ, until the TQ bolts are installed which bring it flat onto the flywheel.... does that sound right? i made sure when i put the TQ in that it seated down 3 times before the TQ was back far enough that the crank sensor was about half past and half on the TQ, and was unable to seat it any further

Yea, you've done the right seating then, like Devan describes. And since you had a gap when the Trans was installed that you took up with the installation of the TC bolts, sounds like my fear of it having to come out are unlikely...

But yes, may as well try it with a breaker bar. The times I have done it wrong, the engine is locked up completely-not just hard to turn-but I guess it could go either way.

If you go out to play with it before I can call you, I'd start by turning the engine by hand, then if it turns over nice, remove the starter to bench test it with a jump pack or jumper cables.

so i figured out that the starter is fine and i believe it to be the trigger wire as the culprit now, the guy at napa said with the key in on possition it should get 12 volts... it did not i also had someone try cranking it and still no voltage the power wire, and battery voltage were both fine.

so looks like im about to rewire that plug... and can anyone confirm that test was right?

I already tried the starter relay and nothing but im not sure im doing the test right can anyone confirm that the little wire should have 12v when the car is turned on or cranked?

I've tried cutting that wire further into the harness and testing it their where it wouldn't have been crimped or anything and still no volts? Could it be the plug that wire runs into or am I in wrong direction?

so after talking with cean we've discovered the problem lies in the TPS sensor

as i noticed when installing the plug the female end on the transmission indented inwards the popped back up when pressure was released.... while my older trans did not.... i was hoping it had no effect unfortunitly i was wrong

it seems that the gear selector will light up R, D, 3, and L.... but P and N will not illuminate im going to do a few more tests before i decide to jump in a change it but im making a call for anyone whos had exp and switched this sensor before, i understand ill need to remove the valve body an solenoid, but know little past their....

Adpros ive heard you may be able to help?

tomorrow ill take the shift cable off and go threw the gears just to make sure the linkage isnt way out of wack

so heres some pics before i go take out that sensor since ive been teasing of some the entire thread and none yet ill start uploading more i promise

this is the battery acid i found after removing the battery when i was checking the starter wiring as you can see i had to dig out the bolts to remove the tray the right is how it looked before being dug out

this is the fluid that came out only 30k miles on the life of ALL the fluid with 2 pan drops in that 30k..... the fluid on the left is OIL for a comparison..... yummy clutch material

and the old trans! i really dont fully know the year on this thing but is believed to be a 98 (the ID tag has been removed)

it seems to be easier then i thought it would i was scared at first when i found out i had to go inside the trans but its very simple i just have to watch for the accumulators falling out on me and mixxing them up

I believe you meant the TRS sensor. I have not done any cross generation swaps so I can't offer much help other than telling you all the accumulators are the same except for the springs that are inside them. If you end up crossing one or two, the effect will not be fatal. Just be sure they are installed in the proper orientation. Accumulators that are upside down can cause lots of wierd shifts.

so im a bit confused in the 42LE manual it says "move shift lever as far as it will go clockwise, one past L, and remove the shift lever" does that mean remove the part the shift cable attaches? i would think if that where removed and was not put on exact same way the linkage would be all out of wack? or is it guided somehow by being "one past L"

and the manuals call it the MVLPS - manual valve lever position sensor - but thats to much to say so im gunna call it POS sensor made an almost perfect 2nd gen trans take that bit extra before i get her up and runnin

so when i woke up i facepalmed and realized i could look at other trans to see how the lever lines up and yea had to wait till after work but got the valve body/ solenoid out now and got a bunch of pics

just the valve body after it came out its very clean and you can see the accumulators came perfectly out with it.

close up of the accumulators

the underside of the transmission with valve body/solenoid pack out

and the sensor in question

it to me seems almost as if it is made to be pushed down then back up by use of the spring... the entire black plate that goes around it is able to be moved up and down.... im debating my next move as the new sensor from dealership is over 50$ when it appears to me it is made to do that but i cant tell.... makes me wonder if somethings wrong with my solders on the plug

The spring is there to keep a consistent force against the terminals on the underside of that black plate. Keep yourself aware of the locator tab on the bottom side as well. If you take the switch off, remember the locator tab fits into a slot on the V/B. If improperly installed, your switch will malfunction and the lever will become hard to turn after the V/B is bolted up to the case.

EDIT: I believe the acronym MVLPS stands for manual valve lever position sensor.

can you confirm though that if the sensor is pushed on then it will move up and down?

The terminals that contact the plate are also spring loaded individually IIRC.
Once the V/B is bolted in. you can still push the connector down a bit but, it is not able to move far enough to lose sealing with the case. I think that seal has about 4 or 5 ribs in it. It's a fairly tall seal.

Also, there is a schematic available that will tell you which terminals should be making continuity in each V/B position. Do you have a copy of the FSM? I think you'll find that detail helpful in case you have connection issues.

And, here's the reason you can't really turn the manual lever too far. The pawl rod has a catch on the bottom which locks into a steel plate. This prevents the lever from moving too far clockwise and also, alerts you that you have the valve body manual lever positioned properly for assembly. This is a must do before re-installing the V/B.